The Amazing Spider-Man: Sins Past (aka The Amazing Spider-Man 4)
by OptimusPhillip
Summary: Peter's life has been balancing itself out over the past few years. He's happily married, and he's gotten over the grief of Gwen's death. But things change for the worse when he receives a letter addressed from Gwen and is suddenly being stalked by two mysterious people. Eventually he learns the shocking truth. Rated T for violence, language, and non-explicit sexual content
1. Chapter 1

The movie opens with a series of flashbacks to some of Peter's happiest moments with Gwen. One such flashback goes like this, set after Peter and Gwen swung off together in the first movie (It is an extended form of a deleted scene):

Peter and Gwen sat at the top of a clock tower, the clock reading 12:15. They kissed.

"I don't think I'm ready to do this." said Gwen, "I mean, I think we're still too young."

"Yeah, maybe you're right." said Peter, "And this'd be nice either way, what with your dad not liking me that much I'd cherish any moment with you."

A few years passed since the fiasco with the symbiote and Gwen Stacy's death. But Peter's life has settled itself some. He's happily married and his former arch nemesis, Venom, no longer plans to kill him. At this point in his life all he has to worry about is whether or not his wife will get the part in the play for which she's auditioning as he sits in the lobby.

On the stage, MJ was trying really hard to get the audition scene right.

"Then he reached over," she said, "and put his hand on my arm, and I said to him... I said 'Why are you touching me like that? Why are you looking at me like that? Don't you have anything better to do with your time?' Well, he looked at me, and when he looked at me-"

"Mary Jane-" said the director.

"-I just knew this would be-"

"Mary Jane-"

"Yes?"

"Stop acting."

"I don't-"

"It's very simple. I said stop acting. Now try it again." MJ repeated the scene.

"Then he reached over," she said, "and put his hand on my arm, and I said to him... I said 'Why are you touching me like that? Why are you looking at me like that? Don't you have anything better to do with your time?' Well, he looked at me, and when he looked at me-"

"Thank you," said the director, "that'll do."

"Thank you." said MJ.

"Mary Jane, wait." said the director as he got up and approached the stage.

"I told you to stop acting."

"Yeah, well, believe me, you're not the first to suggest that."

"That's not what I mean. I meant stop acting."

"But isn't that-"

"You've got two people on the dance floor. At one end you've got Fred Astaire, at the other end a guy who just got out of dance school. You watch the guy and you can see him going 'one-two-three' in his head, over and over. He's trying to dance. Then you look at Fred Astaire... and he's just dancing. There's trying to dance, and there's dancing. Stop trying to act. Just... tell the truth." He went back to his seat, "Now try again."

"Then he reached over," she said, "and put his hand on my arm, and I said to him... I said 'Why are you touching me like that? Why are you looking at me like that? Don't you have anything better to do with your time?' Well, he looked at me, and when he looked at me, I just... I just knew, that's all. The way we all know, you know? When you see... when you see the eyes you want to wake up next to every day for the rest of your life."

"Mary Jane?" said the director.

"Yeah?"

"What are you thinking about right now?"

"My husband and how much I love him. He's sitting out in the lobby, waiting for me."

"So all you did was tell the truth about him, about how you feel about him?"

"Yes."

"That's all you ever have to do, Mary Jane. Just take the stage, face the lights, and tell the truth."

"Thank you for that. I just... I think I just learned more than I got out of the fifteen acting classes I took. Well, I should probably let you-"

"Just... one last thing, before you go."

Back in the lobby, Peter heard the sound of MJ's sneakers on the floor.

"How'd it go, MJ?" said Peter. MJ didn't answer.

"Aw, jeez, MJ," he said, "It's okay. Look it's a growing experience, right? You know, the whole trial and error thing, and then you get the whole trial and conviction thing, the appeal-"

"No, Peter," said MJ, "it's... I got the part."

"You got the part?"

"I got the part."

"You got the part!"

"I got the part! I got the part! I love you!"

Back at their relatively new home (They've had it for a couple years) MJ told Peter about the whole audition.

"And he keeps saying 'Stop acting.'" said MJ, "And I thought 'Boy, don't I hear enough of that.' But he was right, he was so right. Once I got it, I mean really got it, it just seemed so simple. I just had to learn to get out of my own way I-" MJ was cut off the the mailman arriving.

"I'll get it." Peter said. He went to the door and picked up the letters from the floor beneath the mail slot. But the first letter on the stack had a return address saying "Gwen Stacy, C/O Rue Andres Hotel, 1516 Rue Andres, Paris France" Peter was shocked, for Gwen had died years ago.

That night, Peter's hands were shaking as he opened the envelope addressed from Gwen.

It said "Dear Peter-

I know you were kind of surprised when I took off for Europe so suddenly four months ago, but I needed some time to think things over. I know you're probably thinking 'What things?' Something's happened Peter. Something I didn't expect. Something I didn't plan for. Something...

Dear God, Peter. I don't know what to do, how to tell you this. I'm so afraid that when I tell you, you'll hate me, never want to see me again. I've written this letter six times, but I never seem to find the right words.

And for what I'm about to tell you Peter, I'm sorry. I am so sorry. I can only hope you'll forgive me." With that, the page ended, but there were no more pages in the envelope.

Peter stood behind the house, thinking about the letter. Suddenly MJ walked out.

"You okay?" she said.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay." Peter replied.

"Okay, let's try this again, and this time, leave out half of the lie. Are you okay?"

"In that case, not so good."

"Are you sure it's really from her? There's always the chance-"

"No. I checked the handwriting against some of the letters I still had from her, but that was just a formality. I'd know her handwriting anywhere, and the way she chose her words. It's her."

"What did it say?"

"She was saying she did something awful, she made it sound like she thought it was unforgivable. But the one page I got didn't say what it was. It stops just as she was about to tell me about whatever the hell was so awful, so terrible that- I don't get it, MJ, I just don't get it. It was a crazy time in my life. Gwen had gone on vacation without any warning, and that was when I got the black suit as well. Right in the middle of it all, I ended up in a war with the Green Goblin and barely got out with my skin."

"Something I don't understand... she obviously wrote this while she was still in France, if it was something that bad, why didn't she tell you about it when she came back?"

"I guess there wasn't time. When she got back, she had a lot of work to do, then Harry OD'd, and then..." (Flashes back to the scene from 3 where Gwen was killed), "...she was gone."

"It's just so bizarre. I mean, I've heard of the post office discovering lost letters and delivering them years later, but-"

"Yeah, so have I. There are just a few small problems. Problem number one: She never would've sent just that one page. Not even by accident. There would have been more. She probably sat up all night writing, the way she sometimes did, finished the letter, addressed the envelope, and put it away somewhere while she decided whether or not to send it. Problem number two: The stamp's current. And problem number three, the postmark." He showed it to MJ.

It said "New York City PM, June 23, 2023."

"My god!" said MJ.

"Someone's messing with me, MJ." said Peter, "Not with Spider-Man, but with me."

"But why? Who'd want to do something like this?"

"I don't know. All I do know is that something was wrong with Gwen that I never knew about. Something so terrible she thought she could never tell me. And now someone is using her pain to try and get to me. And I don't take very well to that. As Spider-man, there's a lot I have to swallow, and accept, and deal with, because that's the nature of the beast, an awful lot. And at the end of the day, I have to let it go, so I can come home to you whole and at least a little sane. But there are some things in my life that you just don't touch if you want to walk away with your spine intact. You're one of them, first, foremost and forever. This... is another."

That night, Peter couldn't sleep. He hated this situation, not just for him, but for MJ, who slept next to him. She had such wonderful news that day, and then this had to happen.

_They say you should never talk about old girlfriends in front of your wife. _He thought,_ But how many times has Gwen's memory, her importance in my life, come up at us? Any other woman would've told me to take a hike years ago. But MJ's never complained. Not once. Maybe because she knew Gwen, and was also her friend. And maybe it's because she loves me. I don't deserve her. But I try, every day, to make up for it. _The shot changed to show that Peter was gone,_ Somehow, it's never enough._


	2. Chapter 2

Peter entered the cemetery, the rain pouring down like the sky was falling clouds first. Eventually he found Gwen's grave.

"Hey, Gwen." he said, "I got your letter. Well, some of it, anyway. I just don't get it, Gwen. I mean, I thought we could talk. I thought we could talk about anything and everything. Talk about big stuff, small stuff, and silly stuff. What could be so terrible, so awful, and so unforgivable, that you couldn't just talk to me about it? What was so bad that you had to go to France, of all places? I mean, okay, Jersey would've been worse, but still. Whatever it was, I would've taken care of it. I would've made it go away. I would've made it better. I loved you. I would've done anything for you." Suddenly his spider-sense went off, for he was not alone in this graveyard.

"Come to apologize for your sins, Parker?" said a man's voice to the east, "Because if you did, you're too late. You're way too late."

"Who's there?"

"I'm can't decide what's more insulting, that you don't know who this is or that you do and you're too much of a coward to say so!" Peter tried to triangulate on his position with his spider-sense, but he detected someone to the west, in the opposite direction of the voice.

"It's hard to say." Peter said, "Why don't you come out here so we can both find out together?"

"Suit yourself!" said the voice. Suddenly Peter was jumped from behind.

_He's fast,_ Peter thought, _real fast._

"How does it feel?" said the man while he punched Peter numerous times, "How does it feel to know you're alone and nobody's going to help you? How does it feel knowing you're going to die alone?" Peter grabbed the man's arm as he was punching. Only now could he get a good look at his appearance. He was wearing a black leather jumpsuit with a mask over his face, a gun and knife on his hips, and ammo belts over his shoulders and around his waist.

"Don't know, and I don't feel like finding out." Peter kicked the man off of him. Suddenly he was attacked by another person in similar attire. Based on their figure he could tell this one was female. Peter landed on the ground face first, his finger and lip bleeding.

"You've drawn first blood." said the male attacker, "Good work."

"Thanks." said the female attacker.

"Let's finish this." said the man. He pulled out his knife. They both jumped at Peter, moving like one, strong, fast, and deadly. Peter had to fight hand-to-hand, as he didn't bring his web shooters.

_There's two of them, one of me._ Peter thought, _It's only a matter of time before one of them gets lucky and-_ Peter's thought process was interrupted by the male assailant getting his shoulder with the knife.

_That's it!_ Peter thought, _I got to get the hell out of here!_ Peter noticed a tractor trailer driving by. He had one chance, one jump. He had to make it a good one. His attackers lunged at him, but he was already jumping for the truck. He managed to cling to the side as the truck drove away.

"Did you see that?" said the man.

"Yeah," said the girl, "it explains a lot doesn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah, it does." said the man as he removed his mask, "But as far as I'm concerned, it just gives us one more reason to kill him. And like I've always said, if you're going to kill a man, you'll need all the reasons you can get."


	3. Chapter 3

_There's no question they were waiting for me._ Peter thought, _Waiting for me there, right there. Where she was. Waiting for me the very day that a letter arrived from Gwen, the first page of a letter she wrote years ago, and meant to send, but which didn't show up until yesterday. No question that theres a connection. They only question is what? And why? Why are two people I don't think I've ever even met out to kill Peter Parker?_ MJ then walked into the room.

"Are you alright?" she said

"Yeah." said Peter, "no. It's a long story."

"Looks like someone got some licks in. Were you on patrol, or-"

"No, whoever it was, they were after Peter, not Spider-Man. So I couldn't cut loose. The most I could do was hold my own and run like hell. I don't think I gave anything away, but still-"

"And you think it has something to do with this?"

"Yeah. I'll be damned if I know what, though. It seems like every time I get over my guilt over what happened to Gwen, every time I've just about put it behind me, something happens to bring it all back up again... and I'm on that bridge again. Watching her die. It's-"

"Peter? Have you looked at the back of the page?"

"Yeah. It's empty though, so what's the-"

"No. I mean, have you really looked at it? Touched it? There are little indentations on the back. Maybe when she wrote the next page of the letter she put it on top of this one."

"Gwen always did that when she wrote multiple paged letters."

"I do the same thing. It helps keep the pages in order. Maybe if you ran a pencil over the indentations-"

"No. The paper's old, and the impressions are faint. If I did that, I could destroy whatever's there. It'd take a forensics lab to find out what it says. Or I could consult with Daredevil, but he's kind of hard to work with."

"I'm starting to get a little hungry."

"Yeah, let's go have breakfast."

"But first, I need to fix your face. You can't go out in public with visible wounds you'd expect Spider-Man to have."  
"This is why we make a great couple. I look at the obvious page, you look at the apparently empty page. I have a high pain threshold and heal fast, but you make sure the bruises don't-"

"Peter, stop talking, I'm trying to get this foundation on."

"Okay." They kissed.

"You're smudging." said MJ.

"I know. Deal."

When Peter and MJ got downstairs, Peter noticed the mail had arrived. Today there was only one letter. It was addressed to Peter, but there was no return address. He opened it and saw two photographs and a note. the first photo was of a man (the face was edited out) helping Aunt May with her groceries. The other was of a woman (again with a blacked-out face) asking MJ for directions.

The note said "We can kill them whenever we want."


	4. Chapter 4

"Did I tell you I'm heading my own unit in vice?" said a person in police headquarters.

"No," said another, "but that is great, Bert. Because no one knows vice better than you."

"That's very cute, Lamont. It's not my fault they keep passing you up for promotion. I guess they see I've got, you know, unique skills."

"Unique skills?"

"yeah, like I think fast on my feet. I don't buck the system, unlike some people I could name. I stick with the party line. And I'm observant, you know? I see things, I'm a natural. Nothing gets past me." as Bert said "Nothing gets past me." Spider-Man hangs outside the window signing "Meet me on the roof in ten minutes."

"Yeah, I know." said Lamont, "But I should probably let you know I have somewhere to be in ten minutes."

On the roof Spider-Man waited for Lamont. Eventually he showed up.

"Hello, Lamont." said Spidey.

"You've got your serious voice on." said Lamont, "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah, I need help with a personal matter. A friend of mine's in a situation." Spider-Man pulled out a sheet of steel with a sheet of paper webbed to it.

"The information on the other side of this is private." Spidey continued, "So I webbed it to a piece of steel. You'd have to tear the paper to read the flipside. If I come back and see it torn-"

"I won't tear it." said Lamont as Spider-Man handed him the sheet of metal, "So are we talking latent handwriting impressions?"

"I can get it to a lab, but this requires specialized equipment and I don't have time. Can you get it to forensics and see what they come up with?"

"Yeah, I can do that." And with that, Spider-Man swung away.

Down in forensics Lamont handed a scientist the sheet.

"So you're sure you can do this?" said Lamont.

"Yeah," said the scientist, "if there's anything written here, I can find it. It'd be a lot easier if I could look at the other side and get a sense of the handwriting style."

"No can do. I made a promise. Do what you can without tearing the page or the webbing, okay?"

"Okay."

Later, Peter tried calling Aunt May. However, the voice on the other end wasn't hers, but a man's.

"Hello, Parker." he said.

"Who is this?" said Peter.

"We have your aunt. If you want to see her again, come and get her. 1445 East Frampton. You have ten minutes. In eleven, she's dead." the man hung up. Peter pulled on his mask and swung off.

Meanwhile, back at Aunt May's house, a man finished working on her telephone system, which hadn't been working right all day.

"Would you like some lemonade?" said Aunt May, "It must be awful hot up there."

"No," said the man, "I have somewhere to be in ten minutes or less."

Spider-Man swung toward the building at which they said to find Aunt May. He crashed through the window and found her.

"Ma'am," said Spider-Man, "We have to get you out of-" When he went around in front of her he found that it was a dummy with a time bomb attached to it, the display reading the amount of time until the ten minutes was up, t-minus 5 seconds. Spider-Man quickly jumped out of the way, but was still hit with the explosion. He felt the blood running from his ears, ringing from the deafening blast. His teeth vibrated and he tasted the blood in his mouth. As if this wasn't bad enough, the man from the other night showed back up and kicked him in the face.

"How does it feel to be helpless?" he said, "How does it feel to be abandoned? Deserted? Alone?" his voice got angrier, "How does it feel?"

"I don't... I don't understand." said Peter, "Why are you doing this? I don't even know you."

"You don't even know who I am?" the man charged at Spider-Man and pinned him to the ground, "I'll kill you! I swear to god I'm going to kill you-"

"Gabe-" said a female voice in the background.

Bastard-"

"GABRIEL! We had a deal, remember? This isn't the time, not yet."

"I know-"

"Let it go. Please."

"Alright, Sarah. But just for you." He turned back to Spider-Man, "I should thank you, you know. We came a long way to kill two people. But now we realize we only need to kill one person. You. But don't worry, before we kill you, we'll make damned sure you know who we are, why we're doing this, and why you deserve it." They walked away. Spider-Man tried to go after them, but he was too weak. Eventually he went unconscious, thinking about Gwen and whatever happened to her years ago that had such severe repercussions today.

When he came to he realized he should probably check back with Lamont. He swung across to the police station, where he met Lamont.

"You should see a doctor or something." said Lamont.

"I'll be fine." said Spider-Man, "Did you get anything?"

"Yeah, but we only got a few words. Also if this guy is a friend of yours he's in a world of trouble. The old fashioned kind." He handed Spidey the sheet of steel, the page still attached to the side. He went down to a ledge down below to read it.

It said "I'm sorry Peter.

[blank section]

months ago

Should've told you as soon as I found out

[blank section]

couldn't

[blank section]

I was pregnant

[blank section]

had to get away, decide what to

[blank section]

The babies came two months early. I have two children, Peter. A boy and a girl, twins, Gabriel and Sarah.

Please forgive me." Peter's mind fixated on two clauses, "I was pregnant," and "Gabriel and Sarah." He recalled his assailants referring to each other as Gabriel and Sarah.

"No," said Peter, "this can't be. This is impossible. Dear God, this can't be happening."


	5. Chapter 5

Peter looked over the recently revealed back of Gwen's letter from so many years ago. Sure enough, it said she had been pregnant and that the children had the same name as his recent attackers.

"It can't be." said Peter, "The two who've been trying to kill me, trying to destroy Peter Parker's life; they can't be Gwen's kids. They- Even if Gwen had kids, they'd still be children, they wouldn't have aged enough to- Unless they weren't normal kids to begin with. Unless... I have to find out. I have to find out for sure." He pulled down his mask and swung away.

Mary Jane was sleeping soundly when she was suddenly woken up by Peter.

"MJ," he said, "are you awake?"

"No," she said, "I was asleep. What time is it?"

"Half-past really freaking early, but you said you wanted to get up early so you could go work out before rehearsal."

"Right, right."

"I'll make you some breakfast in bed, nothing too heavy, toast, orange juice, coffee, pterodactyl eggs."  
"Oh, God."

"What?"

"Whenever you offer to bring me breakfast in bed, it's a prelude to you saying you can't stay."

"Wow, you really know me well."

"Are you okay, Peter? You look like you've been crying."

"I'm fine, just tired."

"Peter, you know I love you and there's nothing you can't tell me, right?"

"Yeah, I know. I love you, too. I'll be back in a flash."

_He always tries to protect me._ Thought MJ,_ That's what he does. He doesn't understand._ She pulled out a flashlight, _It's not that I don't want to be protected, because sometimes I do. _She turned on the flashlight and illuminated a sheet of paper webbed to the ceiling, _But sometimes I want to protect him, and I can't do that when he's too busy protecting me, when he's keeping secrets, _She turned the flashlight off, _but I have to respect his secrets. Because that's what I do, I keep people's secrets. But what if I'm not sure I should keep them anymore?_

At the graveyard, Peter knelt at Gwen's grave, a shovel in hand.

"I can't do this." said Peter, "But I have to do this. I have to know. I have to." He picked up the shovel, "Forgive me, Gwen. It's the only way to be sure you truly need forgiveness. And I can't forgive you if I don't know if you need to be forgiven." He stuck the shovel into the ground and removed a scoop of dirt. At the same time, it felt like he was digging a hole in his heart. Nevertheless, he kept going. Eventually he got down to the casket. He opened the lid and saw Gwen, her beautiful face still intact and her lifeless body still dressed in the same long, pale green coat and purple dress she wore when she was thrown off the bridge that day. He took out a pair of scissors and snipped off a strand of hair, having decided that was the best way to get the necessary DNA while avoiding desecration, and climbed back out.

"Bastard." said Gabriel from the other side of the graveyard, watching with a pair of binoculars.

"_What?_" said Sarah over the intercom. Gabe didn't respond.

"_What is he doing?_" said Sarah.

"Confirming his worst nightmare." said Gabriel in reply.

"_Then he knows?_"

"If he didn't before, he does now."

Later, Spider-Man returned to the police department with an open envelope, all addresses blanked out, and a strand of blonde hair. Eventually Lamont showed up.

"I need a genetic cross-match." said Spider-Man, "I need to find out if the sender of this letter is the child of the owner of this hair."

"Is this about your friend's dilemma?" said Lamont.

"Yes."

"I'll get these down to forensics. Would you like to stay while you wait?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

Later, while Spider-Man sat waiting for the DNA results, someone threw a hand grenade through the window. Spider-Man quickly slung it back out. Suddenly Sarah jumped in through the window and immediately started shooting Spider-Man. However he simply dodged all the bullets.

"Hold still, dammit!" said Sarah, "I'm doing you a favor, believe it or not."

"How so?" said Spider-Man.

"Gabriel doesn't just want to kill you; he wants you to want it. He's going to go after everyone you love, killing them one by one. Each death making you suffer more and more. Eventually the pain will become unbearable, and you'll be begging him to kill you. Only when you're begging on your knees, will he kill you."

"You're his sister, aren't you? Don't you want what he wants?"

"I... I just want this over with. I couldn't put you through all that suffering, even after what you did," her voice got quieter, "Dad."

"What?"

"Don't act like you don't know. Just, let me kill you."

"You have the gun, what's stopping you?"

"You're too fast, and we both know it. You have to accept it willingly." Spider-Man jumped her and tried tearing the gun out of her hand. However, when she kicked him off, all he got was her mask. When he looked over at her, he saw, to his horror, that she looked exactly like Gwen.

"Happy now?" she said, "Gabe says I look exactly like pictures we've seen of my mom. What do you think?"

"Go." said Spider-Man, saddened by the sight of Gwen's face on someone trying to kill him, "Just... go."

"Soft. Just like Harry said." Sarah said quietly.

"Who?" said Spider-Man. But Sarah was gone.  
"Is everything okay in here?" said Lamont, who apparently heard the commotion.

"Yeah," Spider-Man lied, "everything's fine. Did you get the results yet?"

"We did. It says 'Heredity confirmed to within 0.00001219'. She is the mother." Spider-Man said nothing, and left.

When Spider-Man returned home that night, he found MJ wide awake, with a sheet of paper in her hand.

"MJ." said Peter, "What are you doing awake at this hour?"

"I read it, Peter." she said, "I know I shouldn't have, but I had to. I know who they are, Peter."

"Then you have to understand, MJ. They're not my children. Gwen and I, we didn't, we never, we almost did but she didn't think she was ready."

"I know, Peter. You don't have to try and convince me. I know you're telling the truth. Because I know who the real father of Gwen Stacy's children is."


	6. Chapter 6

"You... you what?" said Peter

"I said I know who the real father of Gwen Stacy's children is." said Mary Jane.

"MJ, do you realize, and be careful here, do you realize what you're saying? Because either you just found this out, and I can't imagine how, or you've known all this time and have never told me."

"I'm sorry, Peter, I'm sorry. I didn't tell you because she asked me not to, begged me not to. She was scared, desperate. I gave her my word, Peter, you know what that's like. You know what it means to swear something so deeply that you just can't... You vowed on you uncle's and father's graves that you'd use your powers for good, that you'd follow the responsibility your powers give you, and kept it in their memory. Would you expect me to do any less? Gwen thought it would destroy you, and at the time, she was right. You were half-mad with grief. You were-"

"I know how I was, MJ, but what about later? What about the years we've been together since then?"

"How could I say something that could destroy the memory of the woman you loved as much as you love me, maybe even more?"

"Tell me everything. Tell me all of it."

"Remember when I said I paid her a visit?"

"Yeah."

(The following is presented as a flashback, with the Italicized text as narration by MJ)

_I went to OsCorp to see if she had any free time soon. When the time came that I was told her next free track was, I went to where I was told she spent most of her free time. But on my way I heard yelling in Harry's dad's office. I was curious, so I went to see what was going on. All those years later I wished I'd turned back, but I didn't._

"You can't do this!" said Norman, "You have no right!"

"No?" said Gwen, "watch me. You'll never get your hands on them."

"I won't let you keep them from me, Gwen. I won't allow it. Those children are mine, Gwen. Not yours, mine! MINE! I need an heir. My legitimate son, Harry, is useless. He's a weakling, broken, ineffectual. He's not a fit son, not worthy of being called an Osborn. With these two, I can start fresh."

"No."

"I can say I adopted them, but I'll know, I'll know that Osborn blood runs through their veins. Osborn strength, Osborn-"

"I said NO! I'll never let you near them. I'll die before you lay a finger on my children. Do you hear me?"

"Yes, I hear you." Norman's voice got quieter, "And you should be careful what you wish for, Gwen, real careful." Norman's voice returned to full volume, "And even if you do manage to keep them, who'll take you with two children? No one, that's whom."

"You're wrong. Peter loves me, and I him. I'll tell him the whole story. He'll accept me, and them. He's the only man fit to raise these children as their father. Not you, never you."

"This isn't over, Gwen."

"As long as it isn't, I have something to ask. The twins were born two months early in France, but they were fully grown, as if they had aged the full nine months in just seven. Why is that?"

"I told you, they have Osborn blood. And Osborn blood is special blood. As such they are special children. They're my legacy, my true legacy."  
"You're insane." Gwen walked towards the door.

"No, that would be you, and that idiot Parker." Norman's voice got quieter again, "Romantic idiot."

_When she left the room she was startled by my being there. She asked who I was and I told her I was a friend of yours. She swore me to secrecy, like I told you before. After that I went into Norman's office and slapped him in the face._

(Back to reality)

"How did it happen?" said Peter.

"The slapping?" said MJ.

"Norman getting Gwen pregnant."

(The following dialogue by MJ alternates between present day MJ and flashbacks to Gwen)

"She said she'd gone to see him seven months earlier on something else, and found him upset, sad, almost broken -switch to Gwen- and I felt so bad for him, but at the same time, under it all, there was this strength, this magnetism, as though there was the person I knew on the outside, and deep inside, this other person, so powerful, yet so mysterious. I didn't intend for it to happen, but it was as if there was something inside him that was so strong, I couldn't walk away, I just... It just happened. And the next thing I knew -back to MJ- she was pregnant."

(The dialogue stops alternating here)

"It all makes sense now. When he changed to the Goblin, he was focused on coming after me, but he would've had to approach it that way. He had to kill Gwen so he could get a hold of Gabriel and Sarah. It would be a two-fer... and a good businessman like Norman always knew how to get the most bang of his buck. Now, for the first time, a lot of things are starting to make sense. The Goblin had an accelerated healing factor. I wouldn't be surprised if he's survived getting hit by Badbat if it'd had a flat metal plate for a head, but even that would kill a normal person at the rate at which it was flying at him." (Peter's dialogue continues over as a narration of a flashback to Gwen in the hospital), "That must have been what made the twins grow fully in the seven months they were in her womb; something must've caused a mutation that sped up their aging. That also explains how they're adults even though they were born only a few years ago." (The flashback ends), "And after Gwen died, Harry left for Europe. I just assumed it was to get over the grief of Norman's death, but now I realize he had an ulterior motive. Did he also go through Gwen's letters to me? Keep some and throw out the rest? Use the ones he kept to convince Gabriel and Sarah that I'd gotten Gwen pregnant and abandoned her? And that Spider-Man killed her? Earlier tonight Sarah attacked me at the forensics lab where I confirmed their Gwen's children. I think I heard her say 'Dad' at one point and drop Harry's name. It all lines up, MJ."

"He was a sick man, Peter. Insane-" Peter started thinking about what Gwen said and why she did what she did.

"-upset, sad, almost broken, and I felt so bad for him, but at the same time, under it all, there was this strength, this magnetism, as though there was the person I knew on the outside, and deep inside, this other person, so powerful, yet so mysterious."

"Did she say if she'd ever... if he was the first man to-" He suddenly started thinking about Gwen and Norman, (represented on film as headshots of them), "-to-" (more headshots), "-no, I-I can't... no-" (the last headshot is of Norman, which switches from his face to the Goblin's), "-no. OSBORN!" Peter punched the mirror on the wall, shattering it.

"Peter!" MJ cried. He smashed a couple chairs.

"Peter! Stop! Let the rage go." Peter began to calm down. Eventually he stopped smashing everything in sight.

Peter and MJ sat in their living room.

"Where do we go from here?" said MJ.

"You mean do I hate you for keeping this from me all these years?" said Peter

"Something like that."

"No. For a moment I was just-. No, I don't hate you. I love you. Nothing changes that. It's just... hard, that's all. And what's even harder is that they need my help."

"Why?"

"They're aging abnormally fast. And from the way they talk, from the anger they have toward me, I think they, too, know what that means. That they're dying. They're going to keep aging faster than Quicksilver can run until it kills them. I can't let that happen, MJ. They're all I have left of Gwen. I can't let them die thinking I abandoned them and killed their mother, and I can't let them die by the Green Goblin's hand. I have to save them, MJ. I have to convince them of the truth and save them, somehow. Assuming they don't kill me first."


	7. Chapter 7

"Okay. So let's look at what we know and don't know." said MJ, "We know that Gabriel and Sarah are Gwen's children but not yours, that Norman Osborn fathered them, that they're aging prematurely due to the Goblin serum having been in Norman's system."

"Check." said Peter.

"That they think you're their father and the man who killed their mother, so they want to kill you."

"Check."

"And that unless you can help them, they'll keep aging at an advanced rate until they die of old age."

"Check. So what don't we know?"

"What the hell we're going to do about it. I mean, we can't contact them, and if we wait until they come to you, it'll probably be to kill you or someone close to you. So what do we do next?"

"I have an idea."

Later that day, the news media was abuzz with talk the press conference Spider-Man is holding in a few minutes.

"Ray," said an anchor on the local news, "has Spider-Man ever held a press conference before?" The shot cuts to a man in an office going through a drawer of archives.

"Once," he said, "to reach out to Eddie Brock, formerly known as Venom. Back to you, Ben." Cut back to the news room.

"Thank you, Ray." said the anchorman, "We now take you live to the steps of the Daily Bugle where Spider-Man is about to start the conference."

Over at the Daily Bugle, Spider-Man was bombarded with questions about why he's holding the press conference. To say it was tumultuous would be an understatement.

"Would everyone please calm down for a second?!" said Spider-Man, and silence fell over the crowd, "Thank you. Anyway, I just need to send a public message to two people, and it's really important. Gabriel and Sarah Stacy," the shot cuts to the press conference being watched on Gabriel's smartphone, "I need to talk to you, personally. I need you to meet me at... At the last place I saw your mother alive, atop the George Washington Bridge."

"Should we go?" said Gabriel.

"It seems whatever he needs to tell us, it's really important." said Sarah.

"It could be a trap." said Gabriel.

"It's a chance we have to take."

"Fine, we'll go." They left.


	8. Chapter 8

Spider-Man swung faster than anyone's ever seen him swing as he made his way to the George Washington Bridge. He was unaware of the police car following him.

"I swore, long ago, that I would never stand up here again." Spider-Man said after arriving on the bridge, "I never wanted to see this view again. But who in this world gets everything they want?" Eventually, Gabriel and Sarah arrived.

"We're here." said Gabriel, "Say what you want to say, but if you try anything-"

"No tricks," said Spider-Man, "just the truth. Let me tell you what I think I know and correct me if I'm wrong. You think I'm your father, that I killed your mother, and that I abandoned you overseas to fend for yourselves. You were given those letters and finally had a name to go with your pain, so you came to destroy my life the way you think I destroyed yours."

"Almost all of that is correct." said Gabriel, "But we don't think those things you said we think, we know. It's the only rational explanation, we're stronger than normal people, we're faster than normal people, and-"

"You're aging faster than normal people, aren't you?" said Spider-Man, "You're aging roughly 2-3 times as fast as a normal person, and it'll kill you in a few more years, the only thing keeping you from dying sooner is your strength."

"Which is the only thing we can thank you for."

"One problem, I'm not your father. That's a man named Norman Osborn. Everything Harry told you about your father is true except for that."

"Harry would never lie to us, he loved us!"

"Was he lying to you about that?"

"STOP LYING! Harry saved us, made a home for us, helped us reach our true potential."

"He was trying to gain your trust."

"Then how do you explain our strength, speed, and rapid aging?"

"Norman was exposed to a special formula that increased his strength, speed and healing ability, but it drove him insane. He became the Green Goblin. Somehow, the healing aspect was mutated when it was passed down to you, becoming an accelerated aging factor. I can help you. Just, trust me."

"I don't trust you."

"I do." said Sarah.

"What?" said Gabriel.

"Think. Remember when he dug up our mother to get a sample of her DNA? Why do that if he could just use his own DNA? He knew there was no way he could be the father." Suddenly Spider-Man heard a police officer yelling through a bullhorn.

"ATTENTION ANONYMOUS PEOPLE ON THE BRIDGE," he said, "YOU ARE ORDERED TO SURRENDER OR WE WILL USE LETHAL FORCE."

"See, Sarah?" said Gabriel, "He called the cops on us!"

"I had nothing to do with that." said Spider-Man, "HEY! BOYS IN BLUE, DIDN'T YOU SEE MY PRESS CONFERENCE? I WANTED THEM HERE SO I COULD TALK TO THEM!" Despite this, Gabriel clung tight to his conclusion and drew his gun. He pulled the trigger, the bullet coming out of the barrel at 886 miles an hour. Spider-Man stood transfixed. Suddenly Sarah jumped in the way, the bullet striking her right in the side. She lay on the ground, weak. She tried getting up, but she kept stumbling, all the way to the edge. Suddenly she fell off. Spider-Man almost shot a web to catch her, but remembered that was what killed Gwen, so instead he jumped off the bridge himself, hoping he can catch up to her and match her velocity. When he did catch up, sure enough, they were falling at the same rate. He grabbed Sarah and shot a web to swing her to safety

"Thanks, Dad." said Sarah.

"We've been over this, Sarah," said Spider-Man, "I'm not your father."

"But I'd have loved you to be." Sarah passed out. Meanwhile, on the top of the bridge, Gabriel ran away.

Gabriel went down a set of subway stairs and through a system of tunnels according to directions given to him as a child by Harry, intended to be followed only after they killed Spider-Man. Eventually he reached his destination. It was an abandoned station, with only two large metal tubes against the wall. He started searched for the button Harry told him to press when he got there. When he found and pushed it, he saw the most horrific sight he could imagine. Part of the tubes rose up, revealing them to contain two goblin costumes, one tube contained a grey costume with blue gloves, tunic, and hat on a male mannequin, and the other tube had a yellowish costume with pink gloves, tunic and hat on a female mannequin. Over at another wall, a large control panel emerged, extending an arm holding a hypodermic syringe and a rack of vials containing a green liquid. Gabriel was horrified to find all the evidence needed to confirm Spider-Man's claim that they were connected to the Green Goblin.


	9. Chapter 9

(Throughout this chapter, the scenes overlap and alternate when I say so.)

Gabriel sat in awe of the sight of Goblin costumes in the abandoned subway station.

"No," he said, "this can't be. This is impossible."

Suddenly a computerized voice said "_Voice identification confirmed. Begin program. Stand by to receive._" A screen emerged from above the control panel. On it appeared Harry Osborn's face.

"_Hello, Gabriel and Sarah._" he said, "_If you're seeing this message, then you have most likely achieved your goal of killing Peter Parker and Spider-Man. You have also likely realized they are the same man. But no doubt, he tried to tell you the truth, the truth confirmed by what you see before you. But when I said Parker killed your mother, I meant it. He is as responsible for her death as my father was. She died because he was a romantic idiot, and so was she. If you're receiving this message, then he has joined her in death by your hands. Now you are worthy of inheriting your father's legacy. The masks are your faces; your faces are the masks behind which your true faces hide._"

(Alternate)

At the hospital, Spider-Man stood outside of the O.R. Later Mary Jane arrived.

"Mr. Spider-Man," she said, "I'm here to see my... um... cousin. They said she was checked in ten minutes ago, blonde, black headband."

"Yeah," said Spider-Man, "they're still operating on her."

"I'll just wait here then."

"Okay."

"I saw what happened on the news," said MJ once there was no one in earshot, "are you alright?"

"I'm fine." said Spider-Man, "I'm currently concerned about Sarah. Whenever someone comes in or out, they're running, and that's not good. I saved her on the bridge, MJ. I can't let her die, now. I can't." Just as he was finished talking, a doctor came out of the O.R.

"How is she, Doc?" said MJ.

"Not good." said the doctor, "We got the bullet out, but..."

"But what?" said Spider-Man.

"It's the blood loss. We typed her blood, and we used what we had on hand, but even with the same blood type, it was rejected."

(Alternate)

"_My father passed down his unique DNA to you,_"said the Harry recording,"_but you're flawed, because you have her DNA in you as well. As she hadn't taken the serum, you're DNA has been mutated, the serum that saved my father's life-_"

(Alternate)

_-is now killing her because it won't accept normal blood._ Peter finished thinking.

(Alternate)

"_Because your rapid healing factor has become a rapid aging factor._" said Harry, "_But that changes now. When Norman was administered the serum, it almost killed him, as he wasn't ready, no one could be ready for that power, until now. You have the serum in your system already, and that means you'll be ready a dose of it._" A robotic arm inserted a vial of the serum into the syringe and extended it over to Gabriel, who took it.

(Alternate)

"We're doing what we can with synthetic plasma," said the doctor, "but it's a holding action at most. If we can't get a relative here in less than an hour, I'm afraid this will have to become hospice." The doctor started toward the door to the O.R.

"Doc, wait." said Spider-Man, "Use my blood."

"Are you a relative?"

"No, but my blood is the same type." Peter knew this as he inquired of Gwen once what blood type she was, and he knew there was at least a chance that Sarah inherited it.

"But you heard what I said, her blood is different."

"But so is mine. And besides, what's she got to lose?"

"Fair warning, Spider-Man," said the doctor to Spider-Man, who now lay in a hospital bed next to Sarah, "this will be a very heavy transfusion. It's not life threatening, but you will pass out and will need to stay here overnight at least."

(Alternate)

"_Of course,_" Harry said, "_it may have unforeseen effects on your mind, psychosis, paranoia, minor memory loss, but it sure beats dying, and what family doesn't have it's little... eccentricities?_"

(Alternate)

"I don't care, doc." Spider-Man said, "Just save her. Don't-"

(Alternate)

"_-let-_" said Harry as Gabriel put the needle in his arm,

(Alternate)

"-me-" said Spidey as they put the transfusion needle in his arm,

(Alternate)

"_-down._" said Harry as Gabriel pushed the button on the syringe, draining the fluid from the vial. Gabriel laughed maniacally as he dropped the syringe, shattering the now empty vial.

(Alternate)

The blood flowed through the tube in Spider-Man's arm and into a clear pouch hanging overhead. They removed the needle from his arm, sterilized it, and put it in Sarah's. The blood drained from the pouch into Sarah's arm.

From out the window, Spider-Man could here MJ saying "Go get him, tiger. Kick his ass, kick it hard." That was the last thing Peter heard before blacking out.


	10. Chapter 10

When Spider-Man came to, he saw Mary Jane standing over him.

"MJ." he said.

"How do you feel?" said MJ.  
"Like I've been hit by a truck, repeatedly, and stood at ground zero of a plane crash, and-"

"I get it, you're not feeling great."

"How's Sarah?"

"She's stable, but we won't know for sure for a few hours."

"Good."

"I also saw a paparazzo try to get in and get a pic of you without your mask."

"Where is she now?"

"In recovery. Big feet, food cart, clumsy me, oopsie." Spider-Man managed to laugh.

"Wait," said Spider-Man, "you said the press was here, right?"

"Yeah." said MJ, "Why?"

"Is this on TV yet?"

"I think so, why?"

"Oh no." Suddenly Spider-Man's spider-sense went off. He looked out the window and saw a figure like the Green Goblin, but with grey instead of green and blue instead of purple, and riding a reddish robot bat with green eyes. It flew straight through

the window and grabbed Spider-Man by the neck, his diamond claws digging into his skin, and flew off.

Mary Jane went around looking for help when he heard someone else calling for help. When she arrived, she found a nurse over a dead guard.

"What happened?" said MJ.

"Someone killed the guard." said the nurse, "And the girl, the girl Spider-Man was helping, she's gone!"

Spider-Man was still weak from the transfusion, but at least he was conscious, unlike Sarah, who'd also been kidnapped from the hospital. He needed to figure out a way to get the new Grey Goblin off of him without hurting him or Sarah. Luckily they were flying by a radio broadcast tower. Spider-Man shot a web at it and held on for dear life, which was difficult for him due to his blood loss. The resulting momentum caused the Goblin to lose his grip without losing control of the bat. But Spider-Man didn't fare much better, for he dislocated his shoulder when he landed. He had hardly enough time to get his bearings when the Grey Goblin sicced the razor bats on him. Spider-Man dodged all but one, which cut his leg. He was helpless. He couldn't move, he could barely see, but he knew that the Goblin was closing in for the kill. Suddenly Sarah regained consciousness and stood up.

"You're pathetic," said the Goblin in a voice that unmistakably was that of Gabriel Stacy, despite the slightly higher pitch, "almost not worth killing, but we always finish what we start, right Sarah?" Sarah did not respond, "I have something amazing to show you, Sarah, finish the job and I can show it to you."

"You're more blind than Daredevil," said Sarah, "can't you see he saved me? He's innocent."

"He's not innocent, Sarah, he tainted your blood with his own. No one is innocent, not him, and if you're taking his side in this, against your own flesh and blood, not even you." He fired missiles at his sister, however she managed to dodge him. She drew her gun.

"Where did you get that?" said Gabriel.

"I nabbed it from the guard you killed." said Sarah. She fired off each and every round from the gun, eventually hitting one of the bat's 'veins'. It started leaking a dark red fluid, presumably hydraulic fluid, and spiraling out of control before finally crashing in the Hudson River. Sarah dropped her gun.

"Sarah..." said Spider-Man.

"I shot him." she said, "I shot my brother."

"No, you shot his glider. And you did what you had to do, it wasn't even him anymore." Sarah wasn't listening and she walked down a flight of subway stairs.

"Sarah, wait!" Suddenly Spider-Man passed out.


	11. Chapter 11

A couple days later, Peter recovered fully from the blood transfusion and went home. However he still couldn't get over how he just lost all he had left of Gwen and how Harry, whom he thought was his best friend, had turned them against him. After many nights of anger, hatred, fear, and grief, he finally snapped and went after Harry.

Osborn manor was somewhat creepy at night, especially if you, like Spider-Man, who was dressed in his black suit as he was truly mad, knew the truth about who the residents were. Despite this Peter landed on the balcony and found Harry pouring a drink.

"Hey, Pete." said Harry without even turning around.

"You turned all I had left of Gwen against me." said Spider-Man.

"I thought you'd be angry at her for what she did."

"I could never stay mad at her, I loved her. And besides, she regretted what she did, you did what you did without a shred of remorse." Spider-Man web slung a vase at Harry, who swiftly dodged, the vase shattering.

"That was worth $600,000!"

"Oh, no, I shattered your super expensive vase, I think you underpaid for your sins against your best friend."

"You're the one who's underpaid."

"What are you talking about?" Harry responded by throwing a pumpkin bomb at him, which exploded leaving numerous lacerations on his skin from the shrapnel. Spider-Man punched Harry in the gut, but felt the unmistakable texture of chainmail and the tough bulletproof Goblin chest piece.

"You weren't expecting to fight two Goblin's in one week, were you?" said Harry as he extended the diamond spikes from his forearm. He put them toward Spidey's face, but Spider-Man was able to hold them away from him, and eventually threw him across the room. Spider-Man walked in the direction Harry was thrown in, but he was gone.

Back home the following day, Peter was depressed. His best friend turned all he had of his first love against him and he doesn't even know why. His hopes were raised, however, when he received an envelope in the mail from someone called Joyce Delaney. He recognized it as the last page of the letter from Gwen sent by Gabriel and Sarah at the start of this fiasco.

It said "I am sorry for what I did, but I'm hoping you'll accept me, and them, nonetheless. I remember when you asked what my blood type was, and I quickly assumed that was because you wanted to marry me someday and wanted to be the father of my children, so I'm guessing you will accept them. But I still have some doubts that you will forgive me, but I'm still hoping you do.

Love, Gwen".

Peter also found in the envelope a slip of paper that says "P.S., they're not gone for good."

Later that day, Peter went to the cemetery to visit Gwen, the sunlight beaming down like the arc reactor at Avengers Tower combined with the arc reactors of every other Iron Man suit ever made.

"Hey, Gwen." he said, "I met your kids. Gabriel isn't quite all there, but Sarah is nice. She's a lot like you. And to answer your final question to me, the one with which you ended your letter, yes, I forgive you."

The movie ends with Spider-Man swinging through the city, and when he's swinging away from the screen, Gwen's face appears (as a visual metaphor) in the sky, the sunlight gleaming off of her beautiful blonde hair.

(Credits roll)

There's a darkened facility somewhere in the city, where machines are injecting some sort of substance into objects in petri dishes on a conveyor belt, which are then loaded into crates, which are then carried off by conveyor belts to another area in the facility.

"Soon, he will be mine." said a man's voice from off-screen, "Soon, I will have destroyed him. Soon, he will pay." The camera panned to show the man was wearing a green mask with large ears and a yellow eyes.

(Credits resume)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** In case you didn't pick up on it, this story explores a central theme. Specifically, forgiveness. Gwen committed a sin in betraying Peter's trust and having twins with Norman Osborn, which seemed unforgivable at first, but it seems even less forgivable than that years later when the twins are raised by Norman's proper son, Harry, to try and kill Peter. Even after all this, Peter still forgives her. The idea is that no matter how greatly you've sinned, you always deserve forgiveness. That being said I hope you enjoyed the story, it's been fun writing it, and I look forward to writing the stories to come.


End file.
